I don't own the Transformers, talk to Hasbro about that.

Chapter 1

The accident.

And sometimes life sucked.

Like now, here he was driving in the rain toward his mortal enemies. Why? Oh, yes. So he could find them and relay their positions to Starscream. It seemed like a good plan , if you ignored the whole they have better communication equipment and that Barricade was not designed for spy work, thing. Oh he could and he would find them, he excelled at that part. What turned this little reconnaissance mission in to a kamikaze run was as soon as he transmitted the Autobots new base location to Starscream, not only would the ego fueled jet know where he was, so would the Autobots. Then Starscream might, might send in the troops and attack depending on how many of the Autobots there were. Which meant that it wasn't going to happen.

Yep, he was going to get his aft handed to him.

Not that he doubted his fighting skills, not in the least, but come on. Primes signal was sure to have reached someone. Which left him not knowing how many he had the potential to be up against. At least 4, that was how many that had stayed on this dirt ball planet after Megatons death. One of which was Optimus Prime himself. Those odds might be fine for Blackout or Devastator who had more cannons then brains, but he preferred to hunt and stalk his prey. Taking them out one by one, on his terms and less likely to get him slagged.

Frag it all, the only reason he was on this mission was that he is currently the only land based Decepticon functioning and to the damnable flyers that had come to aid Starscream, that made him the least valued.

In fact to the three F-22's it made him barely above being an Autobot.

Never mind that Megatron had made him a Ranking Officer and put him in charge of the troops that specialized in seek and destroy on Cybertron. That he had one of the best track records in respect for missions completed, objectives captured and of course, enemies killed.

Nope, send the dirt lover anyway.

Barricades engine revved in his agitation as the rain pelted his glossy finish. There were three more Decepticons inbound, due to make landfall sometime within the next month and for the love of Primus, let them not be flyers. Or at least let them be tolerable ones like Blackout had been. The red glare of break lights flashed in front of him and he glided around the aged minivan the lights had been emitted from.

Stupid fleshling's, unable to control the primitive vehicles they themselves had created when this pathetic planet's atmosphere relived itself of excess moisture.

The rhythmic swish of his windshield wipers along with the rain hitting him filled his interior. He almost missed the random and annoying Frenzy, almost. He would have been sent on this mission instead of him, spy work was his function after all. That had been the reason he had picked the over revving 'con as a partner. Frenzy was outstanding in finding the target and he was outstanding at destroying the target. It worked out well. By the pit, the spastic little bot would have enjoyed this sort of Starscream induced fiasco. But it didn't matter, Frenzy was dead, and with the half soldered sparkling of an eight track player as the Decepticons new "leader" he was probably going to join Frenzy in the hereafter a lot sooner then he would have liked.

More break lights and the police cruiser zippered through the line up in the middle lane, speeding up. At least he was doing something instead of just roaming around the various continents trying to avoid being detected. That was just, just pathetic, him an upper echelon Decepticon hiding.

Although in the interests of self preservation it had been necessary, but now after 3 human months the Screamer had returned. Having promptly declared himself the new Decepticon leader with intentions for this planet and sent him to gather intelligence on the Autobots. Sending him straight toward what he had been carefully avoiding.

Taking a curve at over double the posted limit, Barricade's aft end slid out and he hydroplaned/ drifted around it. Tires grabbing traction when the highway straightened out and he shot forward.

Maybe, if he played this right, he could take out a few of the Autobots before calling in the air idiots. It would make this endeavor a little more enjoyable if someone was suffering more then he was. Besides he had been part of worse scenarios on Cybertron and had always made the situation work out to his liking. With lots of pain and suffering dealt to his opponents to give the mission a splash of zest. He was more then capable of coming up with a functional and workable plan, something Starscream obviously never picked up.

Revving his supercharged engine Barricade continued his trip down the western seaboard of the stretch of dirt labeled America.

Yes, he could do this, there were more then enough hole and gaps in the pathetic plan for him to put in his own ideas. For one, Starscream wanted the location of the base and numbers of the Autobots, he never specified that Barricade was to be at said location when transmitting the information.

Hmmm.

The fleshling, Ladiesman 217, has a residence in vector California. The yellow Autobot might still be around the cretin, he still owed that one a rematch and the Autobot would of course know the location of his comrades and home base. He would have to confirm the location of course, but that could be done after he terminated the Yellow Bot.

Yes, he could make this work quite nicely.

Barricade pulled up his memory files on Ladysman217's home address, then maps of the areas roadways from the internet. He needed to continue south on the 'I' 5 then turn east, away from the ocean and when he hit the deserts; he knew he would be getting close.

At his current speed, he put his ETA at 7 hours 47minutes and 23 seconds. Of course he would have to drop below 120 miles per hour at some point and do some reconnaissance on the fleshling before moving forward with his plan.

Yes, this was shaping up quite well. He might not even get too dinged up, if he could use the meat creature to coerce the Yellow Autobot in to giving over the information then offline the both of them.

A large green sign hung over the road, declaring that the four lane interstate would split in two. One heading for San Francisco the other continuing south without going through the city. Barricade wove his way around the other vehicles and in to the left lanes that would bypass the city. Wind rushed in from the ocean and the other vehicles of the road slowed down to an infuriating crawl. Head lights of the cars around him flicked on as the sunlight dimmed in a sky already blackened by storm clouds.

Pitiful creatures these humans, not even having the proper sensors installed in them for night operations. How was it that they had survived for this long? Let alone become the dominated species of the planet, something should have been able to eat them during the night.

The road rose up, hugging the side of a steep hill as the route bound for the city stayed near the base. Rain drops rode the wind and pelted him more fiercely then ever as he down shifted to get more torque on the incline. The black and white snaked his way through the commuters with ease, getting to a clear area a few car lengths long on the outside lane.

Barricade dug through all the information Frenzy had acquired on Ladiesman217. It was old, but it had helped him corner the meat stick once before.

The metal guard rails whipped by as he gunned his engine, eating up the open space and merging in to the middle lane to avoid an old Buick going way to slow.

The highway followed the curve of the hill to form a large loop and when it straightened, the Police car spotted a bridge over the interstate he had just diverged from. As the rest of the traffic slowed for the wind exposed bridge, Barricade barreled on. He may be the same general size as the other occupants of the road, but he was comprised of much denser materials and weighed well over 3 times as much. It must be that extra armor plating, or maybe the fusion cannons. What did it matter, he just liked that the wind couldn't push him around. This filthy, organic planet couldn't throw anything from its atmosphere that was remotely damaging. He was too strong, to powerful to be stopped by puny things like wind and rain.

The black and white danced through the slower traffic, flicking on his police lights once to get a Honda out of his way so he could get back to his cruising speed.

The road straightened and wind gusted as he roared passed a blocky SUV. Old, faded blue-gray, with rusted out fenders, the Bronco fish tailed from the wind and the moronic driver jerked on the steering wheel, overcompensating. Swerving out of his lane to tap Barricade's rear quarter panel just as he whipped past.

Curses sprang out of his vocalizer as his aft end fish tailed on the slick road. The thick stream of cybertronian increasing as his rear pulled even with his front, his momentum carrying him broadside down the road. Barricade braked, twisted and managed to regain enough control over himself to not be hit by a large Dodge truck whose horn blared before ramming in to the Bronco. Finagling himself into the outside lane as he slowly reduced his speed. Somewhere around 50 miles per hour and sill moving sideways, the old boat of a Buick rounded the curve and slammed in to him.

The scream of metal meeting metal at high speed. Of springs, cogs and glass shattering from the impact reached his audios as he forced himself to ignore the blooming pain that danced on his circuits and think.

He bounced off the Buick and slid a few feet before plunging through the metal guard rail and down the steep embankment.

Mud kicked up as he skidded down, spraying in to his damaged side and clogging his intakes. He needed to stop, there was no hope for traction on the slick hillside. Small shrubs slapped into him, some persistent ones clinging to his undercarriage as he transformed. It was dark out and he was low enough from the road the motorists should not see him. The groan of his frame disjointing and shifting cut off abruptly as his left front tire, the one leading the hectic slide dropped in to an irrigation drain. Caught in mid transform and seriously unbalanced, his continued momentum forced his tire rim to wedge in to the drain.

The sudden dip and stopping of his tire failed to stop the rest of him and he was flung over his stationary tire. The entire assembly from the bearing out separated from the rest of him with a sharp crack when gravity forced him to continue to roll down the steep hill.

Fenders buckled in and his own weight beat him in to pulp as he bounced off rocks and boulders. Balancing gyros cracked and he could no longer tell when he was right side up or upside down. It all blended in to a jumble of black sky and muddied earth alternating with each stab of fresh pain. There was a lurch and a moment of being airborne, then he met back up with the ground with a creaking protest of gears and transistors at the impact.

Sensors caked with mud and gyros offline Barricade held still.

For the love of Primus he hurt.

Bright blue energon leaked from where his left front wheel had been mounted and he could feel the trickle of various liquids escaping their lines and reservoirs to coat him. There was the tell tail tickle of sparking circuitry at far toq many locations for it to be healthy.

He was still caught in the stage of transformation where he looked like a mismatched heap of scrap metal. With a groan of the resounding pain that took up most of his attention he tried to finish his transformation.

He could fix himself if he could pull out his hands. Or maybe drag himself away from the prying eyes of the pathetic humans and let his internals mend on their own. Either way, he wasn't going to get very far without a 4th wheel assembly in car mode.

Straining, pressure built and bent, broke or otherwise damaged cogs grinded and stayed put. Trying again the pressure burst a line and bright green coolant sprayed out adding itself to the collection of liquids covering him. Mixing with the incessant rain to form a colorful pool around him.

Well if turning in to his bipedal form was not working, then he should try to return to car form. Laying here half and half meant that some of his delicate internals and primary lines were exposed to the elements. And Barricade didn't even want to think what would happen if an Autobot found him, after he finished laughing at him that was.

Again he strained, gears clanked and pistons groaned, but slowly the cogs started to move. Things snagged and caught from being bent out of place. Energon rushed out of a newly crumpled line and Barricade slumped, resting his battered and badly dented frame on the asphalt under him.

Warnings flashed on his HUD, the messages garbled by his glitching processors so he couldn't read what was wrong with him.

Barricade knew he would need a least a few days of recharge to get back to a functional state. Oh and the mission, that was not going to happen now. How could it? He only had 3 wheels and wasn't even sure he could move.

Growling at his predicament Barricade slid in to first gear and slowly tried to move forward. Dragging his bumper and sending sparks up from where his broken axle met the road.

The black and white halted and waited for the surge of pain to let off.

Starscream was going to shriek at him. Primus the flier really needed to re-calibrate his vocalizer.

Then the slagging seeker would just damage him further, to show his "superiority" and Barricades supposed stupidity and ineptness.

Right.

The funny part was Starscream would just be quoting Megatron when he had ripped in to Starscream for his many acts of stupidity and cowardice. As for the beating that would follow, it in turn would be followed by a repair drone. And in truth there wasn't much left unbroken for the Screamer to damage further.

Might as well get it over with.

Tweaking the bent antenna somehow still mounted on him and firing up his communications grid. Barricade let out a growl when he saw the grid would not access his previously saved comm channels. He sorted through the signals and frequencies looking for the one that would connect him to the fliers. Barricades HUD flashed and blanked out, flickering back online but still scrambled so he couldn't decipher the title of the frequency he was on.

His Heads Up Display blinked again, distracting him from his search so he turned it off.

The piercing cry of an air horn broke through the night, followed by a set of headlights belonging to a large truck as it rounded the turn.

His energon froze in his lines at the sight of the two beams of lights barreling down the small local highway he had landed on.

Rain poured from the sky, his pool of coolant, oils, energon and primitive fuels slicked the road further. Barricade tried to move, slamming in to gear his remaining front wheel spun wildly on the spilled fluids. The semi truck blared its horn again as it jack knifed. Trailer sliding out to block the both lanes of the road as tires screeched and the fragging lights were the only thing his optics could see.

Then the Freightliner plowed in to him.

edited on 8 June 2011